Court sides with gay couple in lawsuit over health insurance benefits

• Published date: 21 February 2023
• Publication title: The Korea Times

An appeals court ruled in favor of a gay couple calling for equal health insurance coverage for same-sex couples, Tuesday, overturning a lower court's decision that sided with the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS).

The landmark ruling by the Seoul High Court ordered the NHIS to cancel its decision made in 2020 to withdraw a gay man's eligibility to receive spousal health insurance benefits under the employer of his longtime partner.

Although the court did not recognize the same-sex couple as common-law partners, it viewed that the NHIS' decision was discriminatory, considering that the state health insurance program has been giving spousal benefits to heterosexual civil marriage couples.

In February 2020, Kim Yong-min, 33, was able to register his partner, So Seong-wook, 32, as his dependent in the public health insurance system. It was the first known case of a same-sex couple doing so. The couple held a wedding ceremony in 2019, although their relationship is not recognized under Korean law.

However, after finding out that the two were a same-sex couple, the NHIS reversed its decision saying that there had been an "administrative error." So filed an administrative lawsuit against the NHIS in January 2021, demanding it to rectify the decision.

In November 2021, the Seoul Administrative Court ruled against the plaintiff, saying, "Based on existing civil laws, the union of a man and a woman is understood as the fundamental element of marriage and there are no legal grounds to expand that definition to same-sex couples."

The appellate court, however, examined the issue...